Barnsley's U23s were defeated last night in their latest PDL clash with Hull City, despite Louis Rowe giving the Young Reds an early lead.
U23s coach Paul Harsley believes his side were unlucky not to come away from North Ferriby United’s Grange Lane with at least a point on Monday night.
The Reds fell to a 2-1 defeat against play-off chasing Hull City in the Professional Development League North, but feels his team did enough to claim a point if not more.
Louis Rowe opened the scoring after 15 minutes when he was picked out by Ryan Hedges before Ben Hinchliffe’s double sealed victory for the hosts.
“I thought we started off well and then had a bad ten minutes in the middle to the end of the first half,” said Harsley.
"In the second half, I think we probably created the better chances.
"So I’m disappointed with the scoreline - I think we could have got something out of the game - but we’re looking for a bit more development out of the players than we got tonight really.”
The visitors had a number of chances either side of the interval to find the back of the net, but were unable to capitalise following some fine team moves.
Both Amir Berkovits and Hedges created gilt-edged opportunities in the second half, but unfortunately no one was able to connect with their driven low crosses.
“We spoke about that at the end,” admitted Harsley.
“It happened twice and we’re looking for the centre forwards to get in on goal - particularly the ones playing out on the right-hand side.
“They need to be attacking the back post to get a couple of easy tap-ins there. But hopefully that will come. It was more Louis Rowe, who was playing a bit wider than normal, but he just has to learn that he needs to attack the back post more.
"Amir did alright; he does some good things on the ball, looks lively, is tricky on the left-hand side and gets into the box. I think he pulled a couple of them balls across to the far post, and he did some good things in possession.”
One positive for the Reds was game time for James McCarthy, Hedges and in particular Ethan Pinnock, who made his return from injury.
The defender will be looking to force his way back into first team contention as the Championship season reaches boiling point.
“Ethan has been out with a broken toe, so the first team staff wanted him to have 90 minutes and hopefully that will have done him some good.”